quotes

November 27, 2008

Here's what Terrell Owens had to say after finishing with 5 catches for 98 yards and a touchdown against the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday:

... I think we are improving. We are getting better week to week, and obviously it shows what we can do if we put our minds to it and our capabilities.

... (Romo) is getting there. If you ask him, I think he would say he is not 100-percent. But he is getting there and I think he is ready to come out of that split, but he is doing a great job. The front line gives him time, and when there is a break loose every now and then, he will move around and make plays with his feet as well as his eyes and arms. So he is doing a great job.

... I think everyone knows the importance of these last games down the stretch, and if someone needs to say something -- whether it's a captain or whoever -- they will speak up. But I think everyone knows the importance of the games, and there is really not a whole lot to be said, except just go out there and play.

... I think everyone knows the importance of the game, and knowing that we need to win out in order to get to the playoffs. And I think once we get to the playoffs, it's any man's game up until that point. But we can't look into the playoffs already. We have to win these stretch few game we have left.

Here's what Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo had to say after throwing for 331 yards and three touchdowns in a 34-9 win over the Seattle Seahawks:How close to 100% is the finger? It's getting closer. I would be very surprised if I wore the splint against Pittsburgh, but you never know what will happen within the next week or so.On the offensive line: I thought the o-line played outstanding tonight. Some of the protection and moving around, we had a couple of miscommunications by the backs just to their guy, so we missed on that. But those are easily correctable. We had a couple of big plays we left out there and if we can protect that up.

On the importance of momentum heading into December: You're supposed to go out there and try and win games. When I got back on the field, I was hoping I was going to be able to help this football team after the injury. I felt like we had a good chance to come out and win some games. This team never lost confidence. We went through a rough patch there and we are still not out of it. We still have to keep going forward and putting together wins to get in the playoffs, but I do know that our confidence level is where I feel like on any given Sunday, we can play with anybody. It will be interesting to see how we can continue to go forward.On Roy Williams getting the ball: He cares. He still wants the ball, just like T, just like Witten, Crayton, they all want the ball. They just do a good job of hiding it from you guys sometimes. But it's great because he is a high character guy. He runs good routes. He is a great player and we're lucky to have him. I am excited about the possibility of this offense going forward. We are still mising some pieces, and we got injuries and we are still trying to overcome certain things. That's the stuff you got to keep playing through and hopefully this season, that won't be the reason why it doesn't end the way we want it to. We are hoping to write a chapter that moves on and goes deep into the playoffs, and hopefully the Super Bowl, if we can get there -- into the playoffs, and if that is the case, we have overcome a lot and we will be really excited about that.

On Jason Witten: Jason Witten is the aboslute perfect tight end in all ways. He runs great routes. He blocks in the backfield,and he is a good run blocker. His timing is impeccable. He's got good hands. His size, and then on top of that, he is a tough guy and a high-character guy. He is a really easy guy to play with and makes everyone around him better.

Here's what Wade Phillips had to say after his team's 34-9 win over the Seattle Seahawks.

... I thought this was a must-win game for us. I thought the offense, defense, and special teams came through. All of them played well.

... We had a couple of guys banged up. Marion Barber got his foot stepped on. The X-rays were negative ... DeMarcus Ware was walking up the tunnel and said he felt a lot better. But we're still going to evaluate that.

... Offensively, we threw the ball really well. We spread it out to a lot of different people. I thought Tony (Romo) had a really good game. (Tashard) Choice came in later in the game. I thought he did a good job for us. When Marion went out, I thought it was a good thing he came and showed he can run with the ball and help in those situations in case Marion isn't in the game.

... Defensively, we keep playing really well. In the red zone, we're getting better and better obviously. It seems like when we get our back to the wall a little bit, we get after them. Our pass rush was really good. Hasslebeck had not been sacked that much. Their team overall had, but he hadn't. I thought we really got after him and got after the passing game. We played well.

... Overall, it was a good effort by everybody.

... We saw (Choice) in preseason and we felt good about what he could do. It's a good thing that this happened again because we got a chance to see him play against people stacked up against the run. He had one really good run called back. But he had a good day, I think.

... Three weeks ago, we're looking at a different thing. Of course, the last part of the season is going to be big for everybody. You can see how the climate can change quickly in this league. You've got to do what you need to do. What you need to do is win and get on a winning streak. We started that.

... (Ware) is a great player. They gave him The Turkey ... we all know what kind of player he is. He never ceases to amaze you. Great players keep making great plays. He does that game after game. He plays the run about as good as any outside linebacker that I've been around. He doesn't rush the passer every play.

... We stuff the running game really well, which made them one-dimensional early in the game. You could tell they couldn't run the football on us. That was important, too.

... (The 10-day break) is a big plus for us because we do get to rest a little bit. It's tough going through that. The thing you worry about in the short week is getting some injuries. It looks like we made it through it all right. Those guys should be abck.

... We want to be the best team with the best attitude.

... The next game is the most important. That's where we are. The Pittsburgh game, that's the one we're pointing towards. We are trying to win games one at a time. This is a different team in a different year. We'll see what happens.

... Any time you lose DeMarcus Ware, it's going to be a problem for you. I think he'll be back. Hopefully, he will.

... I think (Witten) is almost well. He's played with a lot of pain this year. He's had a tough time as far as getting banged up. He told me this week that he felt better. I think he showed that in the game.

... I think our defense is playing better. When we went through that down streak, I think our defense had more mental toughness. You hate to lose, but I think it made them tougher ... I think we learned something.

... I think we are starting to hit our stride. We've got a lot of weapons. Roy Williams made another big play for us. Martellus Bennett scores a touchdown every game. We have a lot of weapons and our quarterback can get the ball to them.

... We have a good rush team. We get a lot of hits on the quarterback. It's something you have to do, I think, to be able to win.

Here's what Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had to say after Thursday's 34-9 win over the Seattle Seahawks:

On today's game: I think that it is great to have Tony Romo back. We play Pittsburgh next. The struggle is not over. Every time we line up, it is going to be a challenge for us.

On the play of the rookies: The time that we've gotten to invest in them playing is equivalent to a college season. Some of them have been in key situations and critical opportunities and have taken advantage of it. They are impressive.

On DeMarcus Ware and Marion Barber: I'm optimistic. DeMarcus Ware is moving around really well. We give a really good examination for our players. DeMarcus is moving around and that's a really good sign. Regarding the dislocation of Marion, we'll have to see how that goes. He went back out after the dislocation.

On depth at running back: Tashard (Choice) played good and we have a good running back on the practice squad.

On potential injuries in the future: I think you have to realize that that's the NFL and so often, you don't end up with the team that you thought that you would have at the end of the year.

On future games: I think a big part of December is the Pittsburgh away game. It's a big opportunity. Tony Romo should really be unrestricted. We will be going into that game reasonably healthy.

On Tony Romo: Tony Romo had a goal and Jason Garrett had a goal. They were going to take Tony Romo's natural skills and instincts and work more towards thing that you see when you're a seasoned and experienced quarterback. His footwork has improved. His ability to move around in the pocket and protect that ball has improved. His decision-making is instinctive.

November 23, 2008

On the impact of only scoring six points on first-and-goals: You know it’s always going to come back and bite you. You get down there, you work your offense down there, and not to come away with seven? You know but they’re fighting. They’re trying to make it happen. But you knew it was going to come back and bite you. You get six instead of 14. Do the math.On not playing press coverage on TO: Honestly, we wanted to mix it up. We wanted to play some press, and we wanted to play some off of him. There were a couple of times that Romo instead of getting sacked he ran around a little bit and the guy was looking at the quarterback instead of staying deep. Anytime you have a situation like that, we know we have to stay with the guy and not let him just run free. That’s what happened on a couple of plays. But we did press him as well.

On Nate Clements: Nate, the last few weeks, Nate has been playing well. Today, that one play was a tough play for him. It was just something where the quarterback scrambled, and I’m sure he thought the quarterback was sacked. He thought we had him, but he20got loose and he threw the ball. It happens. It just came at a really bad time. But Nate has been playing his tail off, and he’ll continue to do so.(rather he not try to knock the ball away, but make the tackle) I think he was trying to do both. Yeah, you want to try and knock the ball out. TO is a big guy. You’re trying to tackle him; you’re trying to knock the ball out. It just didn’t happen.

On the touchdown to T.O.: Obviously, it changed momentum. I felt a the beginning of the game, we pretty much were running things we needed to run to stay on the game plan that we wanted to have. After that one play, of course there were a series of plays during the game, but that got it started. That is something that we did not want to do, something we did not want to happen, but obviously it happened. But we just had to regroup and continue and try to come from behind at that time momentum-wise.On Gore not really being a major part of the game: I think going into this game, we wanted to try and take advantage of some things that we saw in their backend. Once we got behind and now they’ve got their ears pinned back and they’re rushing us every time, it makes it a little difficult. I thought20both run defenses did a pretty decent job today. I thought we did a pretty decent job containing Barber and they did a pretty decent job containing Gore. That’s the kind of day it was.Did the Cowboys offense do anything different? No. No. Absolutely not. It was just one of those things we came in and gave up some big plays. They’re a big play offense. They live and die by the big play. Today, they lived by it. We just have to be smarter than we are. We were not very smart today and that’s why we lost the game. It’s really as simple as that.

Is this a step back? I would never say it’s a setback, because I told the guys a little while ago you know what, I love every one of you. Effort is outstanding. We’re just not playing very smart at times. To me, that was the case today.

What are you referring to? I’m referring to the little things like the first play that Nate had. I’m referring to we get a break, we get a turnover, and the quarterback turns around and throws a bad ball, however it was. It was deflected or whatever it was. It’s just that we have to go to that next level where we’re playing sma rt football. We play with our heart. We’re playing with a lot of intensity, a lot of energy. But at times, we’re not playing smart. When you’re playing against a team with all this talent, and all the things that this team can do, you just can’t do that. We did it too often today.On Hill having trouble in red zone: I can say yeah, he’s going to have a bit of a challenge because he doesn’t zip it or whatever. He’s been doing fine the past couple of weeks. I can’t say that. I just think the ball he threw, I don’t really know what exactly happened on it, I just know it was a bad play, a bad throw. I guess he’s going to make those throws. It’s unfortunate. It came at a bad time.

On getting to the quarterback: I just know the guys are fighting their tails off to try and get there and the times they did get there, we didn’t bring him down. Romo does a decent job of moving around. If you’re going to do that, if you’re going to rush him, you’ve got to bring him down. If you don’t bring him down when you have a chance, he’s going to hurt you and that’s what happened.

Obviously, I’ve got to give them credit. They’ve got a good defense. Those guys can get after you. They’re very athletic. So I’m going to give them all the credit in the world. They’re due. I just think we did some things on offense that we haven’t done in a while. We’re turning the ball over. We’ve got to keep the ball. We get down there in the red zone, inside the 5, we’ve got to punch it in. I have to give them credit for it.

On fearing T.O. coming into this game: You know what, I’ll just put it this way: I think TO is a heck of an athlete. When you give him a chance, he’s going to do what he does. It’s unfortunate for us, but obviously, he’s a heck of a talent. I’m not going to take anything away from him.

On it being a tall order for Nate Clements to be matched up on T.O.: No, it’s not. No. I can’t agree with that. I’m going to defend Nate. Nate is better than that. Nate is a good football player. Nate can cover TO. He did not today, but I’m not going to sit here and make excuses for him. Maybe we should have got him more help? Maybe we should have…. No. I don’t think so. I totally disagree with that. I just think we did a bad job. It’s as simple as that.

Did you press Terrell Owens? After a while, when you’re playing against someone like TO and you know that sometimes even though you’re supposed to be pressed, maybe you back off a little bit, because a guy like that can make you lose your confidence a little bit. It’s really unfortunate, but it happens. I’m not going to all of a sudden say TO is the greatest guy in the world, greatest wide receiver in the world. I think he does a heck of a job. But I just think when you’re not playing smart and you’re not playing with confidence, sometimes that’s going to happen. I will not say that Nate can’t cover that guy. I will say Nate can cover him all over the field.

On talking to Clements after the game: Nate’s a man. He’s a professional. He’ll bounce back. He’ll do fine.

Ready for some excitement, kids? Here's what Coach Wade had to say after the win over the 49ers:

... It was an important win for us. I thought we started out a little slow, obviously, offensively and defensively, but once we got going, I thought we played real well. The demise of Terrell Owens has been overly exaggerated. I think we can see that he still has it, and if we get him the football, he can make plays and we did give him the ball. I thought our defense and the two goal-line stands certainly made a big difference in the ballgame and after that, we took control offensively and defensively. There are still some things to clean up. At the end of the game, we had two 15-yard penalties. Basically, giving them an opportunity to score late in the game, but I was pleased overall with our team effort. We only got a short time to celebrate because we have to get going on Seattle tomorrow and all of them know that. But this was a nice win for us.

On T.O.'s involvement this game: I don't know that we changed a whole lot. We changed quarterbacks back to Romo, that's a big part of it. We feel comfortable playing at home with our fans, that's important to us. Having a game at home, we feel comfortable and I thought we felt comfortable with our offense and defense.

On success with other teams pressuring T.O.: It's hard with all those weapons when they start playing on guy and that's what we thought would happen. Unless you can get pressure on our front. Our offensie line did a good job of protecting and that was important.

On protection and third-down conversions: Third downs, offensively and defensively, they didn't make very many and we made a lot of them. We ahve consistently done that, that's when Romo shows up and our talent at receiver. We made a lot of third downs.On being 7-4: We are going one game at a time and the next game is most important to us, and that's the big thing. We are just looking at ourselves and trying to do well, and if we do well, everything will take care of itself.

Was T.O. more motivated this week? I thought he practiced really well this week. We commented Thursday or Friday on what a great route he ran. He works at it now. We might put in a west coast offense, but I thought this one worked this week.

On Nick Folk and the overall game: Nick made a lot of field goals, which was really important as far as the game and number of points that we had with him kicking the ball. We got the big touchdown and blocked the punt, so we did some good things. Our coverage was great. We let down a little bit at the end, defensively, and special teams coverage on the kickoff - and that bothered me a little bit. But nothing is going to be perfect.

On having Tony Romo back: When you score 35 points, a lot of it has got to be the quarterback. When you win, it's the quarterack. When you lose, it's the coach.

Here's what Jerry Jones had to say after his team's 35-22 win over the 49ers on Sunday:

On the defense: I thought the defense was the difference that turned the game around for us. I am really proud of the entire bunch. ... Terence Newman and Anthony Spencer are in the mix and are difference-makers.On his team's focus: At the end of each game, that will be what we're about. Every one of these wins are championship-like games.

On Terrell Owens: If we can get him the ball, we can win the game. ... The facts are that when we give him the ball, we can really have success. ... We made adjustments to what San Francisco was doing, but we did not alter the plays of the game to get Terrell Owens the ball more. ... I think Jason Garrett and Terrell Owens' relationship is outstanding. ... He is an exceptional athlete and an exceptional player.

On Adam Jones' return: I don't think it will effect us one iota, at all. Terence Newman stepped up and played well. You can't get enough corners. I am glad where we are right now.

On Witten's hit: He seemed to be fine. It was his ribs that were giving him the biggest problems.

Here's what members of the Cowboys offense had to say after the 35-22 win over the 49ers:Martellus Bennett... This was a good win, if we win like that it's a different type of win and to win games like this just shows you how good you are. Any win is a good win.

... I don't think anyone lost their swagger, it's just like that Young Jeezy song and the T.I. song, Nobody's got a swagger like ours. We just trying to shine when we get a chance.

(Do you think if you complain, you will have a 200-yard game?) I don't read the media, I really don't pay attention to you guys. Half of the stuff you say isn't true. But well, for the most part probably, so I might try it this week. ... Nah ... I'm just playin'.

Roy Williams(On playing Thanksgiving with the Cowboys) I just hope that we win the ballgame, I can't say anything about the Lions, we struggled a bit on Thanksgiving. Hopefully, we can get the W.

(On Terrell Owens' 200-yard game) That's T.O. I think Clements had a rough day, and when the man had 200 yards. I was getting on to him for having 199 for the longest, and the last catch, as you can see, he ahd his eye on it. He wasn't going to let that one go. My hat goes off to him for another 200-yard performance and helping us win the game.

(Do you think if you complain you will have a 200-yard game?) I don't know. I never complain, I'm just happy to win. T.O. is T.O. He's a playmaker, that's what he is. My hat goes off to him

(Does the short turnaround bother you?) No, it doesn't bother me at all ... that's what we get paid to do. If we ahve to play tomorrow, we have to play tomorrow. It's a great time for us, the nation will be watching us and we have to perform once again.

... I think T.O.'s first long touchdown really woke this crowd up, woke the defense up and woke the offense up, after that play the Cowboys came to play.

Tashard Choice... It's actually cool, another game, another game come quicker. It's always good to play. I've been watching to Cowboys play on Thanksgiving since I was young, so to be in one, it's going to be special.

October 26, 2008

We couldn't have a round of postgame quotables without hearing from Terrell Owens, now could we? Here's what the wide receiver had to say after the win on Sunday against the Bucs:

... I think from a coach's point-of-view and his assessment of this team as a whole, we know why we were losing. I think some of it's energy. I think some of it's communication on the offensive side of the ball, the defensive side of the ball and even special teams. We've been a play here and there away from really breaking open and putting ourselves into some games. I think we've got to eliminate a lot of those mistakes.

... Our defense showed up today. A situation like this is just where ... you'd expect the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense to step up. It really shower that everybody was in-sync with each other. It's a part of how we've been practicing all week. We gave ourselves a chance. As an offense, we definitely appreciate the way they played together.

... We go into the game every week thinking we should win the game. Obviously, Brad (Johnson) played a lot better than he did last week. As an offense, we're not as efficient as we need to be. THere are things that will get better as we practice. We're looking forward to next week.

... As receivers, we're competitive. We feel like we have some playmakers. But we have to do whatever is necessary to win the game. For whatever reason, we got the dinks-and-dunks. We had some opportunities there ... but there's always room for improvement.

... I'm always looking forward to trying to make something happen once I get the ball. You just have to make the best of your opportunities. I think we did a great job of that today.

... We're just trying to execute, number one. We had some penalties that set us back a little bit. Those are things that won't allow us to be efficient as we need to be if we keep making silly mistakes.

... The most important out of everything today was that we got the win.

... You guys (in the media) want to create the negativity. I think a lot of guys are aware of it. I think a lot of the coaches are aware of it. You guys (in the media) put our head coach on the hot seat. We've just got to concentrate and worry about how we feel about each other in the locker room. That's all that really matters ... what was said in the locker room. Don't worry about what the media says.

... We're a young squad on defense. They are getting better and better each week. That bodes well for us going into the latter part of the season.

... I'm very confident going into next week. I understand we have to do some things to keep the chains moving. Brad is going to do the best job he can back there. We've just got to go make plays for him.

... Brad has been through the fire. He's been a starting quarterback. He's been a backup quarterback. He's been in every position that you really could imagine. You have to take your hat off to a guy like that. When he's back there, he tries to asses what the defense is playing in front of him and he tries to take advantage of what they are giving him. Brad is a professional. He's going to do the best that he can do.